...back to red wines. My all time favourite and all I really drink apart from the occasional beer is port wine. Preferably a vintage around 25-30 years old. Absolute minimum standard would be an LBV or late bottled vintage. LBVs are made from grapes of a vintage year but unlike a true vintage they don't improve once they are bottled. They do have the advantage of being ready to drink as they don't have a sediment so they don't need to be stood upright for a couple of days and then decanted. They are also a lot cheaper. Anything else is just cooking port. Good in venison and redcurrant stew but not for drinking.
Port wine I do like as well. And I have also been to Porto in Portugal and enjoyed all kinds of wine there.
I was not familiar with the term Muscadine so I looked it up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_rotundifolia Interesting! I think some of these plants have also been planted in Europe some time ago.
I've been a couple of times. Once by yacht all the way from Hastings via the Channel Islands and Brittany. Mostly under sail apart from our first leg to Brighton when we had to motor-sail due to adverse weather. Second time by camper van in a 5000 mile round trip taking in France, Spain and Andorra. I only drank port in Oporto. Quite a lot of it as we took in 3 tours each time around the different Port cellars which always ended in a free tasting session. Pro-tip, always sit at the far end of the table as that way the bottles always end up with you each time a new one is opened.
Still: 1 x Tempranillo 1 x Sangiovese Where are the friends of Spanish and Italian wines? Are they nowhere to be seen?
I agree that oak is overdone, in wines, making it the predominant feature, in some whites, and actually detracting from flavor of the grapes, in a few reds (I'm actually not sure how many, since any red that starts off, touting its oak notes, I am unlikely to try). This is the way marketing trends work. Now, for instance, it is very much in vogue to age hard liquor, in old bourbon casks. With some spirits, say a rum, this might add a nice additional dimension. But I not long ago had a tequila, aged this way, which made it taste not really like a tequila (it was a Centenario).
I done that. Pure 198 proof cut 50/50 with water. No bite at all. If you try to drink it straight it might dissolve your esophagus. But, it's still a social thing for company, not unlike coffee or smoking a cigar or drinking wine with friends.